Why the Blazers organization sucks

Kristin and I went to all exciting Blazers/Raptors game last night and watched some pretty terrible basketball. They were down 20 points most of the game and I don't even know what the final score was.

Anyway, the start of the 3rd quarter we moved from our nosebleed seats down to a lower level with one of Kristin's co-workers and a buddy of his. We were about 15 rows from the floor and the sections was about 35-40% full, at best. We sat down in what was clearly open seats. About 15 minutes later, a worker started ticket checking people and asking them to move. She did this to us (at the request of two 20-something girls behind) us. How we were bothering them is a mystery to me. Anyway, I asked why we had to move. She said because we didn't purchase those tickets. Obviously, no one bought the tickets! So I cannot truly understand why a more loathed franchise like the Blazers would continue to alienate fans. To make matters worse, the girls behind use heckled us with "some of us actually paid for our seats." What kind of person cares about that shit? I bet these girls, who by the way were quite unattractive, are they type who go to a bar, get drunk and start dancing on tables, drawing attention to themselves in a thinly veiled attempt to bolster their self-confidence. They know their ugly, but if they act cheap or like assholes, they feel good about themselves.

So bravo frontline Blazer employees for continuing to give me more reasons not to support your piss-poor organization.

IKEA coming to PDX

The big news today here in Stumptown is that IKEA has announced it is building a store out near the airport. I have been following this story for a while it almost didn't happen as zoning and other redtape issues surfaced. So it's been worked out and the store will open in 2007.

This is great for the regional economy as people who go to either Seattle or SF for their Swedish meatballs and teal bookshelves can now do it right here.

It will be a two-story, 280,000 square foot store and the hope is to develop an additional 500,000 square feet of retail space and one million square feet of offices. I imagine retailers will surely jump at the chance to be near it so we'll see how it develops over time.

Now, people are going to say "oh great, another big box retailer. How can we allow this and not Wal-mart?" Here's my answer: IKEA is a good business who takes care of their employees and breathes affordability from the top executives down through the organization. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder, still stays in the cheapest hotels and flies only coach when he travels. He started this business as a teenager and was stonewalled from trade organizations because he found ways to make quality furniture cheaper and faster than his counterparts. Businesses hated him because he redefined who could buy furniture. The industry used to be all about handing down furniture (which is still great I might add), but IKEA said "no, everyone should be able to buy good quality furniture and not junk. Not everyone is rich or can wait 50 years for an armoire.

Further, he encourages people to take public transportation, or ride bicycles, rather than drive. Plus, the company is incredibly philanthropic.

Kamprad in the past has some loose ties to Nazism but has completely denounced those relationships. Yet, I'm sure it will come up in a town like Portland when the store opens.

How's that for a nice shilling?

And the winner of the $340 million jackpot is...

Having never played Powerball before, I like so many others bought a ticket. When I awoke the next morning and found out someone in Oregon won, I honestly thought it was going to be me. But it wasn't. And sadly, I was disappointed and upset. I had big plans for that money.

However, it was someone in Jacksonville, OR who won; which is where many of you who came to my rehearsal dinner know well. It's a great town and a favorite hangout of Kristin and I, so it just seemed bizarre that this ticket was sold there. Also, Kristin is from Medford, so as a frequent visitor the place, it must be absolutely nuts right now trying to find out who the big winner is.

By the way, if I won, I'd buy a Camaro and one of those water massage tubes you can lay in at the mall.

Update to Roux

Thanks to my friend Pete who encouraged me to write an "angry letter" to the restaurant owners.

I sent them an "observational email" of my opening night experience and low and behold my comments were warmly welcomed. In fact the owner called me to make sure I'd seen his email response. To make a long story short, he gave Kristin and I a $100 gift card. Class act. Not expected at all, but certainly welcomed. So round 2 at Roux starts at 7 p.m. Saturday. I look forward to it.

Check out this story to learn more about Roux. This was a front page entertainment section in the Sunday Oregonian last week.

http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1129114584147840.xml?oregonian?aldssf&coll=7

Free iPod?

I'm trying to get a free iPod and it's based on making referrals so check this out and see if it works for you.

http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=23786728

Delusions of excellence

I'm 0-5 in fantasy football so that really sucks. If it wasn't for this guy, I'd be the worst in the league. But at least I'm scoring points which I pray will mean a turnaround sometime soon.

This weekend was a lot of fun for us because Kevin, Jen and Ethan were in town for the Portland Marathon. Kevin's a big-time runner but this was his first marathon. Long story short, he did great finishing under 3 hours 30 minutes. He looked a little rough after it was done, but it was quite an accomplishment nonetheless. Congratulations Kevin!

We all went to the Zoo on Saturday so little Ethan could check out all these indigenous Portland animals for the first time. He's a really smart kid and he can sign a lot of words now so his communication skills were really impressive. He really seems to get what things are plus he's just so damn funny.

On Friday, we all ate at Pambiche, a cozy Cuban restaurant in NE. I had the "Old Clothes" which was jerked beef over rice and veggies. Quite delicious. Overall, wonderful staff, food and ambiance. I highly recommend checking it out.

That's that. Life is busy and that is good I suppose.

"Roux" the Day!!!

So Kristin and I have been eagerly awaiting this restaurant's opening a block from our house (N. Concord and Killingsworth) for nearly 6 months. And on Saturday, we eagerly went there for dinner on opening night. The place was packed and there was a strong aroma like the finish on the wood was still drying. But everyone was excited and the place was abuzz. They even asked us if we had reservations to which our response was "it's your first night, who makes reservations?"

So we ordered and sat there waiting for our undoubtedly delicious dinner...and we waited for 1.5 hours before we left. We had to leave for another engagement. Now, I understand that it was opening night, but we just sat there waiting. At least they could have supplied us a couple more slices of bread after we punished the first three pieces soon after we ordered.

The kitchen was obviously overwhelmed and the servers were standing around. I reluctantly told them we had to be somewhere and our server told us it would be 5-10 minutes longer. That turned into 15 and we were out the door, stomachs empty and ire sparked to a raging inferno. The manager came over and apologized but didn't offer us anything, except Kristin's glass of wine, which we politely rejected. I want them to succeed but they clearly need to get a few things ironed out. It would have been nice, being that this establishment is a part of my community and all, that I would have felt like they really wanted to show me this wouldn't happen again. So I'm bitter now and feel like they didn't really care that their neighbor walked out unsatisfied.

Best of luck Roux. I'm sure I'll be back. Just make sure to set out a whole flippin' loaf of bread on my table if it's going to be another long night.

Dog the Bountyhunter

So I've been watching this show consistently and I admit I'm hooked on it. I think there is nothing funnier than watching white trash use the word "brah" to native Hawaiians. Here's some quick questions I have about the show:

1) how many kids does Dog have and with how many women? He makes Shawn Kemp look like a responsible father.

2) What does he see in Beth and why does she wear children's clothes?

3) How long can Dog sport a mullet over his obviously bald dome? I actually think he's Terry Bradshaw in disguise.

4) What are those ridiculous sunglasses he wears?

5) They look like they work out of a strip mall (right between 7-11 and Taco Bell) but Dog has a fleet of vehicles, including a Jaguar. Bail bonds must be a great business.

6) And finally, is it me or does Dog only have three teeth in his lower jaw?

Bucket o' Drama on Portland's light rail

It's been a long time to get back to writing. Work has been busy and I started back up at school, so now I have no time for much of anything.

Anyways, two great Max stories for you today (maybe great is not the right word for the second story). On the way home for lunch, this young woman gets on with a dog, a shepherd/collie mix in my professional examination, and goes to sit down. This other woman, also younger, freaks out and tells the first woman to get her fu*#ing dog out of her face. Then proceeds to curse her out and threaten to kick her ass. The one woman sits down and the dog calmly lies down. Meanwhile this woman is verbally assaulting the dog owner a la John McEnroe to a chair umpire circa 1983. But she just sat there and calmly told the angry woman that she was a disgrace to black women (I forgot to mention they were both African American).

Anyways, it gets loud. At the next stop the Max driver opens the door and the two are nearly at blows. The dog hater was relentless with the colorful language, in fact she would have made longshoremen blush. So the woman with the dog agreed to move. She was pissed and visibly upset at the scene that was caused. The funny thing is, the dog was just lying there the whole time. But as I got off, I walked over to the woman with the dog and said "I like your dog."

She smiled, laughed and said "Thank you."

Message here: some people hate dogs.

On the way back, I saw a scary scene where some man was lying face down in the street. He was in a wheelchair which was about 10 feet behind him. It was not pretty and everyone on the Max was freaking out. I think he got hit by a truck because this guy got out of a big Ford or Dodge and ran over to him. He was motionless. People started calling 911. I hope he's alright, but it did not look good.

So that was a sad note.